A JOINT
RESOLUTION expressing thE PROFOUND REGRET of the north carolina general
assembly for the history of wrongs inflicted upon black citizens by means of
slavery, exploitation, and legalized racial segregation and calling on all
citizens to take part in acts of racial reconciliation.

Whereas, Article 1, Section 1, of the Constitution of North
Carolina, in concert with the American Declaration of Independence, proclaims,
"We hold it to be self-evident that all persons are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor, and
the pursuit of happiness"; and

Whereas, involuntary servitude, as practiced within the
borders of North Carolina in the 17th, 18th, and 19th
centuries, violated the precept that all persons are created equal and denied
thousands and thousands of people of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness, of
the ability to benefit from their own work, and, in many cases, of life itself;
and

Whereas, the practice of slavery was embedded in
constitutional provisions and laws enacted by predecessors to this General
Assembly and other civil authorities of North Carolina; and

Whereas, the practice of slavery began shortly after the
founding of the British Colony of Carolina, with a 1669 constitution that
provided land to white colonists according to the level of their holdings in
slaves and free black employees, 20 acres per black male and 10 acres per black
female; and

Whereas, even though North Carolina did not have as extensive
a plantation system as other states in the American South, slavery had become
entrenched in the State by the time of the American Revolution, so that at the
founding of the United States three out of 10 North Carolina families owned
slaves; and

Whereas, North Carolina took legal actions to deny freedom to
black people, including an 1826 law that prohibited free blacks from entering
the State, an 1830 law that prohibited anyone from teaching a slave to read or
write, and a provision of the 1835 Constitution denying free blacks the right
to vote; and

Whereas, even as slaves engaged in back-breaking physical
labor, endured squalid housing, and saw their families broken apart as spouses
and children were sold from one owner to another, black men and women
cultivated tobacco, cotton, and other crops in a largely agricultural state,
built essential public facilities, and contributed to the creation and
accumulation of wealth; and

Whereas, by the time of the American Civil War, North
Carolina was home to 330,000 slaves, one-third of the State's population, and
North Carolina joined the forces that fought to preserve a region and a society
that had slavery as a defining characteristic; and

Whereas, in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation
and during the period known as Reconstruction, black residents of North
Carolina not only gained legal freedom but also participated more directly in
the public life of the State, to the extent that 20 black legislators were
elected in 1868 to the General Assembly, and blacks continued to serve in State
and local offices through the remainder of the 19th century; and

Whereas, at the outset of the 20th Century, North
Carolina enacted laws that prevented black citizens from participating fully in
a democratic society, including a 1900 amendment that denied black citizens the
right to vote and the segregation of black and white citizens into separate and
unequal public schools; and

Whereas, as a result of dire economic and social conditions,
black North Carolinians joined the "Great Migration" from the South
to the North in the first half of the 20th Century, so that more
than 270,000 people left the State between 1910 and 1950; and

Whereas, despite the legacies of slavery and the imposition
of laws that segregated blacks and whites in schools, public facilities, and in
civic life, black North Carolinians persisted in faith and in hope for a better
life, in their yearnings to participate fully in the economic and democratic
life of their State and country; and

Whereas, North Carolina should celebrate the entrepreneurship
of black citizens in building nationally recognized businesses; the founding
and sustaining of colleges and universities that historically served black students;
the many black North Carolinians who have provided leadership in education,
law, civil rights, and governance to the State and nation; Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives
concurring:

SECTION 1. The General Assembly issues its
apology for the practice of slavery in North Carolina and expresses its
profound contrition for the official acts that sanctioned and perpetuated the
denial of basic human rights and dignity to fellow humans.

SECTION 2. The General Assembly urges
schools, colleges, and universities, religious and civic institutions,
businesses and professional associations to do all within their power to
acknowledge the transgressions of North Carolina's journey from a colony to a
leading State, to learn the lessons of history in order to avoid repeating
mistakes of the past, and to promote racial reconciliation.

SECTION 3. The General Assembly calls on all
North Carolinians to recommit their State, their communities, and themselves to
the proclamation of their nation's Declaration of Independence and their State
Constitution that "all persons are created equal and endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights" - to work daily to treat all
persons with abiding respect for their humanity and to eliminate racial
prejudices, injustices, and discrimination from our society.